JJ on Criminal Minds

Lately I have been reading lots of articles about the way women are portrayed in media. It´s very enlightening and has made me view my favourite series differently. And I have discovered that some pretty interesting things about the way with which women are portrayed in these shows so the next posts will be my own thoughts and views on the subject. And first up is JJ on Criminal Minds.

She is a former media liasion and a current profiler. She is also a mother and married to a cop. JJ is portrayed as being extremly good at her job, particularly in communicating with people (where the rest of the team generally fail except Morgan). She is shown to be smart, tough and has some serious martial arts skills. However she is also a mother and a wife. JJ is the most normal character on CM and she is also the only character I can think of in a crime series that is both an agent, wife and a mother. And that gives her a definite edge as a character.

She is clearly more adept at communicating with people and has an easier time relating to them and understanding their concerns.And her maternal side has been instrumental sometimes in helping them solve cases. And I am very happy with the fact that her home life is actually portrayed. It´s not without it´s faults but it´s refreshing to see a character on TV that is not only a skilld agent but also has her own family with the ups and downs that follow. CM has done an exceptional job of portraying JJ´s family life, concerns and how it affects her as a person.

I have always enjoyed the episodes where JJ is the focus of attention and where they portray her family life. It givs the series a sense of normalcy and realism. One of my favourite episodes of Criminal Minds is 5x13 Risky Business when they investigate a string of strange suicides among teenagers in Wyoming. Not only did CM handle the episode material with great care and realism (I can´t believe choking really does exist!) but that episode gave JJ a time to shine and expose a different side to her character than before. And the actress AJ Cook gave a phenomenal performance.

It was such a nice change to have an emotional episode which gave the character of JJ and new depth and made her more nuanced while at the same time keeping the realism about her, And that is one of the reasons she is such a good character.

And of course it can´t go without mention that AJ Cook is a great actress.